Indian CXOs believe tech can help them survive economic headwinds: Report

Despite global concerns over the economy and a possible recession, 97% of C-level executives and business owners in India believe their businesses can survive economic downturns, and that technology can give them the confidence to weather the storms if they were to hit, according to a new survey. 

The majority of respondents from India were in the IT industry (36%), followed by healthcare (23%), security (12%), retail (6%) and education (5%), tech (4%), financial services (4%) and six other industries (10%), found remote access software GoTo (earlier LogMein)’s new survey of 3,700 senior-level executives and IT decision-makers in global markets, including India, conducted by market research company OnePoll between August 25 and September 2.  

To ensure preparedness, 60% of Indian businesses maintain work equipment (employee computers, office equipment, etc.) on a regular basis and 54% create a company-wide emergency fund and equip employees with the technology they need to ensure that work continues uninterrupted. Almost 98% of Indian respondents also agreed that ensuring their employees can connect to IT support is vital to them being able to work.  

Executives in India are preparing their businesses to be economically resilient by making plans of action for potential disasters (56%), improving digital security measures (54%), and consolidating technology or evaluating technology needs (50%).  

Likewise, a high percentage of Asian and Oceanic nations surveyed had a strong sense of economic resilience for their businesses: Philippines (90%), Australia (82%), Malaysia (80%), and Singapore (76%).  

The trend is different in the European countries as only two-thirds of German (68%) and French (66%) business owners feel confident they can weather a crisis. In the UK, a mere 43% felt confident.  

Conducted by online market research firm OnePoll, this report comes in as 69% of respondents globally believe a recession is likely to occur within the next six months. In India, it’s enough to cause 94% of respondents to prepare their businesses for economic headwinds at any given time.   

“Whatever is ahead, it is clear businesses need to be prepared in order to support their employees, protect their bottom line, and maintain business continuity. By taking relatively simple steps such as consolidating tech stacks to save money, creating plans for multiple scenarios, and improving their security practices, businesses of all sizes can stay resilient in the face of potential economic uncertainty,” said Paddy Srinivasan, Chief Executive Officer, GoTo.  

On a global level, around 51% of businesses have come face to face with economic headwinds in the past. Of them, at least 93% of owners and execs said they learned what to do for any future potential disruptions to their businesses.  

When asked what piece of advice they’d give to survive economic headwinds, respondents claimed it’s important to “be prepared,” “plan ahead,” “keep calm” and “be optimistic with strategies and goals while going through the process.” In order to get ahead of potential economic headwinds, the survey found that almost 76% said it was important to keep their employees protected during economic downtown and nearly 77% said it was important to keep the morale of your employees high during a potential recession.  

Of the Indian business leaders surveyed, around 97% believe it is important to keep employee morale high during the economic downturn, and almost 94% believed that employee morale has improved since last year.  

While three out of four global business leaders said they would “do anything” in their power to retain employees through a possible recession, 97% of Indian business leaders said that retention was a key priority for them. At least 68% of global businesses have had important work interrupted by technology issues and almost 74% believe making sure employee devices are working properly is vital to keeping their businesses running and prepared for any future issues.  

Last week, the KPMG 2022 CEO Outlook that polled more than 1,300 CEOs at the world’s largest businesses about their strategies and outlook showed that "14% of senior executives identify a recession among the most pressing concerns today — up slightly from early 2022 (9%), while pandemic fatigue tops the list at 15%. Despite these concerns, senior executives also feel markedly more confident about the resilience of the economy over the next 6 months at 73% than they did in February which was 60%, when KPMG surveyed 500 CEOs for its CEO Outlook Pulse survey.